OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

[beanhauler]

Anyone found a means of convert the std delco? distributor to an electronic vs
This boat has the shift easy block that shorts out the points for a couple of cylinders to enable easy shift.It hangs on the neg side of the coil.
For that reason i suppose its more difficult to find a bolt on electronic kit.
Anyone had any success or just settled for the conventional points and screwdriver approach.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

You can go with the Petronics kit but the shift interupt switches will need to be modified.
If it runs ok with the points setup i would leave well enough alone.
Other than maybe helping it idle smoother the electronic ignition is not going to give you any huge performance gains.

Points are cheap,do a correct tune up once a year and it should be fine.

 

[mthieme]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

I have an '89 4.3. One of the best things I ever did was to convert to Pertronix. The Chrysler style points would float around 33-3400rpm.
It was drop in and go...15 minutes....done.
What a difference. I highly recommend this.
Skookum

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

But the esa might not work? And when they mess up all kinds of stuff can happen. Esa module ain't cheap ether. If you can find them.

Plus it ain't cheap, i vote if it's working good and you keep a eye on the points at the begining of the year you will be good to go for many, many, years.

Leave it alone.

If i were you i would clean all the connections good, pay attention to the ground connection that the neg, battery connects to. Disconnect the battery before you do any connection cleaning. And then spray them all with corrosion pro.

I know the last stuff you didn't ask about but i threw it in, cause about this time your boats connections need attention. And a little attention now will prevent problems latter.

Good luck !

 

[180shabah]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

We aint talking about race engines here, we've got realtively slow spinners, keep the points.

Two more things about the cobras:
- DON'T skimp on drive lube
- Have the lower shift cable adjusted, following the factory directions to the letter. A stretched or misadjusted lower shift cable will destroy the gears.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Heres a link your gonna need sooner or latter.

http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/kw-shift.html

Read it over and over show it to a mech. if he needs to work on it.

 

[180shabah]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Thanks for throwin' that link up there chief, I didn't have it available at work.

 

[beanhauler]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Thankyou to everyone who contributed here

It just gives me the jitters when you have to rely on those jolly old cb's
Especially when you have just shifted 4 gallons of water over the transom.
I think its more about the condensation.It tends to hang around the cap and points.Maybe its paranoia but if its electronic then less to go wrong...hmmm maybe.
Recently the boat packed up with a shorted coil.Well i kind of helped it along
by hot wiring it when the bypass came loose from the starter.
Unknown to me the coil had hardly any oil in it and although it started i left it connected too long and bingo high impedance primary.
While i was playing with the points i think i must have left a small gap and it finally closed up on me.
I think it would just be the joy of not having to worry about the state of the points although i suppose they should last for years.
I have only changed them a season ago so they are still in good nick.
I think i will leave for next season to see how it behaves.
Thanks to all for the ref to petronics kit.I do not know if anyone stocks in the UK but will have a look around.

 

[beanhauler]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Why isnt life simple!

Just went to have a look for the distributor for the 4.3l v6 chevy 262 cu in OMC 1989
and can not find reference to any part numbers.
I think its a prestolite with the screw type fixing.
The Petronics kit is asking for the correct part number for the distributor and can not advise.
Anyone know what this distributor shouldl be
will there be a part number on the distributor itself to identify it?
Any help appreciated.

thanks in advance

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

I didn't know your in the uk, stiff upper lip and all that.

Good luck sir but in my humble opinion if it's running good i would just leave it alone.

The coil is a auto coil take it to a auto store or order one online 15 bucks.

Oh next time you run a jumper wire put a switch on it, turn it on with the switch, and turn it off with the switch and you won't be burning up coils and points.

Good luck !

 

[beanhauler]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Thankyou for your reply

I've gone off the boil already.
I have already fitted a new coil ...over here its 30 bucks plus.
The reason for the jumper at teh time was it had died and we were bouncing around in 3 ft waves.i had to resort to stripping my speaker wire to make the jumper.
Got towed in eventually so you can see i'm not very happy with points
But never mind...spose i shouldgive it a fair crack of the whip.
It just seems so prehistoric these days if you get my drift.

 

[180shabah]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Points might be "prehistoric" but when set properly they are dead reliable.
If it makes you feel better for a few dollars, keep a complete set with your other onboard spares. My "spare" ingition module is $400 +/- so I left it with the dealer and paid for towing coverage.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Shabah and i are on the same page, with this one. Well said.

 

[mthieme]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

That's one great thing about the Pertronix CDI module. Since it's a direct replacement, you can keep a spare set of points on board should it fail.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Hope this one isn't to long, but here goes.

Only way that the points will melt together is when you don't turn off the ignition key fully, and leave it on the run position and the points are closed. And the motor is not running.

That may melt the points together.

Other than that one reason i can't see why points will fail unless the motor gets submerged, and the dizzy gets flooded.

There are of course other conditions that could affect a dizzy, but they would affect the dizzy weather the dizzy had points or a electronic setup, ie: the shaft gets worn and there is play in it, the gear gets somehow stripped, the weights get hung up etc.

Fresh points looked at, and setup correctly will give your years of reliable service.

When you look at them you will know when it's time to change them out.

Oh don't over look the inside of the cap and rotor of course. Good contact is the key.

Good luck !

 

[180shabah]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Only way that the points will melt together is when you don't turn off the ignition key fully, and leave it on the run position and the points are closed.

Or if you "hotwire" the coil....I assume there was no resistor in line at this point. Burned out points and coil, but if it gets the family out of danger it is worth the cost.

 

[mthieme]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

I've been in the 'boat' before.
3 toddlers and the wife out at an island 4 miles out with dusk approaching.
The price of a part becomes inconsequential.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

To get my wife and kids out of danger, can't even print it here.

I wouldn't care if there was a piece of the boat left. House, car whatever the situation.

But i carry a heavy piece of wire on the boat one strand copper, about 4-5 feet long.

 

[beanhauler]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Actually the weather was terrible
Running a few feet swell and about 6 knots of tide.

It was ticking over fine and just stopped so hung on the key but although it would crank ok theer was no go.
Managed to get an anchor over the side to stop me running up on the rocks.

Checked the spark by pulling out the coil lead and opening and closing the points.Spark was pathetic...both at teh points and the coil ht.
Grabbed my speaker wire and sawed through it to make a jumper.
Clipped one end on the battery bypassing the resistor and bingo she started.
Turned it off to remove the jumper and tried to start on the key and no go.[That was the dumb *** thing to do]
While it was running in bypass mode...12v at the coil....the excess current had cooked the primary.Watch this as the power dissapation increases dramatically in terms of i squared r.It shoul donly give the coil 12v for a short time while you hold the key in the strt position.
Now i had a coil primary high impedance and a sickly feeling after being bent over the engine for half an hour.
Unbeknown to me although i found out later...the bypass wire had come loose on the starter so you did not get the 12v to aid starting.
Also the coil had no oil in it....found out later...it was a std auto coil someone had put on it....apparently the marine version has better sealing....not sure how true this is.

Called for assistance and a friend of mine came out.
Threw himn a line which promptly wrapped itself around his prop.
Now we are both hanging on my anchor nearly being run up on the rocks.
One of the other guys on the boat jumped over and started to try and remove the rope from the prop.It was tough as the tide was hitting his back and jetting up into the air.

Finally got it free and we tried again but my anchor was now fouled.
After another stressful 10 mins managed to free te anchor and get back
It sfunny how something very silly can quickly turn into a major disaster!

 

[chiefalen]

Re: OMC 4.3 v6 1989 cobra Electronic?

Do a search here for; Tow of shame.